Case Number 13617

MAD MONEY

The Charge

They're having the crime of their lives...

Opening Statement

Mad Money struggles from an identity crisis. Is it a star vehicle for
Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, and Katie Homes? Or is it a comedic crime film
about real-life people forced to steal based on unfortunate economic
circumstance? Unfortunately, the film doesn't commit to either path, resulting
in a mildly enjoyable yet not wholly engaging film.

Facts of the Case

Bridget Cardigan (Keaton), Jackie Truman (Holmes), and Nina Brewster (Queen
Latifah) are manual laborers toiling away at the Federal Reserve. Cardigan, a
fallen upper-middle-class socialite now working as a janitor, cooks up a plan to
steal dirty dollars about to be shredded. She ensnares her two coworkers to
carry out the plan -- a plan that works flawlessly until it doesn't.

The Evidence

The movie opens with what appear to be jail-house interviews, although all of
the players are wearing street clothes, so it is immediately obvious they are
not high-security risks. The interviews consist of revealing, yet adoring
remarks about ring-leader Cardigan's plan and appear as if they are
good-naturedly ratting her out. These interviews will appear throughout the
movie providing snippets of back-story or unexplored character traits. They are
usually irrelevant to the plot yet offer a bit of an anchor to a timeframe and
story line that jumps from place to place.

Soon the movie reverts to three years earlier. Here we meet the well-coifed
Cardigan and learn that her picture-perfect life has crumbled since her husband
lost his job and, unbeknownst to Cardigan, slipped into immense debt. Cardigan's
naivete at her family's dire straits makes her later mastermind burglar role a
bit unbelievable. In a very short timeframe Cardigan goes from being completely
unaware of anything but luncheons to pulling of a heist of federal proportions.
Cardigan's character isn't shown to evolve enough during this film to make that
jump believable. Although Cardigan's wardrobe shifts from pleats to coveralls,
her demeanor as a perky housewife carries throughout the film, even as she's
scrubbing toilets and robbing the government.

It is in the Federal Reserve building that the film's identity is acutely
called into question. Punctuated amongst the high-octane presence of the three
leading ladies is a cast of characters seemingly straight out of The
Office or Office Space. These drab-looking pencil or trash pushers
embody a working atmosphere that is both acutely boring and highly
regulated/important giving the building, and people, a little bit of buzz.

The uptight supervisor, Glover, is played by Stephen Root (Milton from
Office Space). His performance as a stone faced supervisor who prides
himself on seeing and knowing everything is the way this movie should have gone.
It should have harnessed and exploited some of the irony that pervades this
film. It should have been about the ironic seriousness that pervades, what is in
essence, taking out the trash. It should have been about the low-level workers
banding together to beat "The Man," or in this case "The
Fed." It should have been darker and grittier and funnier.

Instead the presence of Keaton, Holmes, and Latifah brought this film a
sunny disposition where none was needed. It brought the tabloids into the
Federal Building and it became hard to imagine that these three women were
desperate for cash. Latifah's performance as a single-mother raising two boys on
the salary of a dollar bill shredder is believable, as both her appearance and
demeanor were understated. But surrounded by the boisterous Keaton and Holmes,
who played a free-spirited, karma-dependent hippie, and Ted Danson (Mr.
Cardigan), who looked and acted terribly tanned and Cloroxed, Latifah looked
more like she missed the makeup call than she'd found a film to showcase her
range as an actor.

In the Special Feature commentary by Director Callie Khouri, it is revealed
that this movie has its roots in a true British story but that the director and
company, in the five years it took to get this film made, altered that original
story dramatically. With the mention of Britain and true story I saw the way
this movie could have, should have been. It should have stuck closer to the
original "script" and become less Hollywood.

The only Hollywood embellishment I enjoyed about this film was the
soundtrack -- although I admired a scene transition technique of one scene
folding over onto another and the big-budget mobile home explosion tipped off by
some string and a wind up toy. The opening songs were orchestral and flighty,
with an undercurrent of urgency and irony, setting off Keaton's character
perfectly. Later the youthful Holmes is seeming jamming -- not from an iPod mind
you -- to more classic rock as she dances through her rote tasks.

But the Hollywood mainstays of dancing in piles of money after throwing them
graduation hat style into the air and the gratuitous back slapping that defined
the Special Feature "Makin' Money: Behind the Scenes of Mad Money" I
could have done without.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

One thing I admired about director Callie Khouri's commentary was the fact
that she wanted to make a crime movie that didn't involve violence. This movie
certainly is family friendly, even if it does romanticize the criminal tasks of
its main characters a bit.

Closing Statement

There's a reason Mad Money wasn't a blockbuster hit. It took a
blockbuster cast and gave them an up-by-the-bootstraps story without taking away
their silver spoons. But the DVD does offer both a widescreen and full screen
option, a welcome addition to those of with tiny, square televisions who hate
black bars.

The Verdict

Guilty. But viewers might not have the time of their lives watching this
film.